Nick-names often tell a tale. Not always does the story hide some ugly plot. At times, it can be a tribute to a presence. The story our blog is going to narrate today is a tribute to one such wondrous vision, even when it was on the silver screen that she thus shimmered.
The main character in our story is Manik Sitaram Godghate. Does the name sound familiar? Here is a clue. He is a famous Marathi poet. That tip is no help! Okay, have you heard this song sung and set to music by Hridaynath Mangeshkar? Yes, I am referring to "Ti geli tenvha paus".
Well, it is a poem penned by Manik Sitaram Godghate. Yes, he is the well-known Marathi poet 'Grace'. Not many may find his poetry easy to understand, given the complexity of his symbols and his dense linguistic experiments.
Now the story of his pen name 'Grace'. Manik Godghate was enchanted with the performance of Ingrid Bergman in a 1958 film "The Inn of Sixth Happiness." True it is that Bergman has a hauntingly lyrical presence. There is something uniquely pure, genuine, innocent, clean, gentle about her.
In addition to this allure of Ingrid Bergman, in this particular film, she enacts the role of a committed evangelist who tries her utmost to save the lives of orphaned children in war-torn China. In these far away land, she remains true to her love, too.
Literally she is grace personified. Godghate was impressed with her persona on the screen as she appeared to him to be grace incarnate. Hence he assumed the pen name 'Grace'. He even dedicated his first anthology to her.
Undoubtedly, actresses with an aura have a magic of their own. They are both real and yet not bound by the daily lived physicalities and/or realities as they are both so very near and yet so far away, so very close and yet so very distant that their imaginary essence fires imaginations! That is the moral of the story!
Pratima@ This 'fan-cy' anecdote convinces me that girls must have written to Rajesh Khanna letters with their blood as the ink! Incidentally, "ti geli tenva" is NOT dedicated to maternal death. Rather, it refers to Godghate's emotional anguish he deeply felt as a young boy when his young stepmother would leave the house to meet her lover, leaving the child feeling helpless, abandoned, and stripped of his childhood early. Distant stars shine the brightest! From close quarters, they are nothing but stones. How very true of film persona of actresses or of inspirations behind movingly emotional poems!!!
The quote of the day: "Give up to grace. The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore," says Rumi,
The word of the day: grace Grace means elegance in movement, especially in/of behavior as well as a freely given, unearned blessing.
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